( The Knights Templar were a very interesting bunch, originally
established as a fighting order of monks to protect pilgrims to the Holy
Land.
They built a number of castles in Palestine and were well established in
Jerusalem.
Their power and wealth increased rapidly in Europe where they built a
number of churches, etc, during the twelfth century.
They eventually became too powerful and were accused of heresy and
destroyed by the Church in the fourteenth century. It has been suggested
by history that they indulged in the Occult, or at least in strangely
unorthodox ceremonies. (the Freemasons of the seventeenth century
supposedly subsequently based much of their secret ceremonies on old
Templar rites).
And of course, as we all know, it has also been suggested that they are
the protectors of the Holy Grail (the cup from which Christ drank at the
Last Supper, said to lead to eternal life), because of the long
occupation by the order of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

A very interesting Templar church in Scotland from the fifteenth century.
Incorporates a huge wall said to symbolise the western wailing wall of
the Temple in Jerusalem. The interior is said to be rich in symbolism.

The Temple Church is a late 12th century church in London located between
Fleet Street and the River Thames. It was originally constructed as the
church of a monastic complex known as the Temple, the headquarters in
England of the Knights Templar. In keeping with the traditions of the
order, the nave of the church was constructed on a round design based on
the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The order was very powerful in England during its existence. The Master of
the Temple sat in parliament as primus baro (the first baron of the
realm). The compound was regularly used as a residence by kings and by
legates of the Pope. The temple also served as an early depository bank,
sometimes in defiance of the Crown's wishes to seize the funds of nobles
who had
entrusted their wealth there. The independence and wealth of the order
throughout Europe is considered by most historians to
have been the primary cause of its eventual downfall .

Not directly associated with the Templars. Saint-Sulpice has gained a
peculiar mystique because the church is somehow associated with the
supposed mysteries surrounding the "Priory of Sion", said to be a
powerful, centuries-old covert order guarding some incredible secret
(usually taken to be that the line of Merovingian kings survives into
modern times; further
embellishment would make the Merovingians descendants of Jesus and Mary
Magdalene).

Interestingly, the church appears to be associated with nature-worship.
The gnomon (in the background) and the brass line on the floor.
In 1727 Languet de Gercy, then priest of Saint-Sulpice, requested the
construction of a gnomon in the church. It was made to help determine
the time of the equinoxes and hence of Easter (since Easter Sunday is to
be celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon after the
spring equinox). A meridian line of brass was made, running across the
floor and then ascending a column or "obelisk" of white marble, nearly
11 meters high. In the south-end window a system of lenses was set up,
so that a ray of sunlight shines onto the brass line. At the winter
solstice (December 21), the ray of light touches the brass line on the
obelisk. At the equinoxes (March 21 and September 21), the ray touches
an oval plate of copper in the floor
near the altar.